


And With Your Hands, Your Hearts

by NamelesslyNightlock



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Arranged Marriage, Established Relationship, Feels, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Frigga is a Good Mom, Frostiron Bingo Round 1, Handfasting, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Love Confessions, M/M, Odin's A+ Parenting, Royalty, Shapeshifting, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Trust, Vanir Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 03:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20090743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelesslyNightlock/pseuds/NamelesslyNightlock
Summary: When Tony heard the announcement, he was sure that there must be some kind of mistake. He must have heard wrong– because surely Odin hadn’t said that Tony would be marryingThor?





	And With Your Hands, Your Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fill for my Frostiron Bingo card. I’m not going to create another series for these, since there’s already a collection, but I will be tagging them all ‘Frostiron Bingo Round 1’ so that they are somewhat organised together.  
  
**Square O2**— _Trope: Switched Groom._

When Tony heard the announcement, he was sure that there must have been some kind of mistake. He must have heard wrong– because surely Odin hadn’t said _Thor_. He hadn’t. He _couldn’t_ have.

But—

_Prince Thor and Prince Anthony will marry at dawn._

Tony’s wide eyes immediately found Loki’s. The younger Asgardian prince met his gaze with an equally horrified expression.

Neither of them had expected this. Neither of them _wanted_ this. They had been living in a dream for the past three months, believing that even when the negotiations came to an end and Tony returned back home to Vanaheim they would find a way to keep in contact, to stay _together_. Now, though… it seemed like Tony would not be going anywhere, and he and Loki would never be able to be together again.

It was hard to pull his gaze away from Loki, and even the discussions that continued through the rest of the Hall were like a low buzz in Tony’s ears when compared to the horror that was sparking through his body, aching right down to his bones. It was only when Tony’s mother gently nudged his side to indicate he needed to speak that he was pulled out of it.

But even so, speaking was something Tony did not think he would be able to manage– and rather than saying something about how honoured he was, he stared at Thor with what he was sure must look like glassy-eyed shock.

Thor didn’t seem like he minded much. He looked shocked as well, his face pale and his eyes wide– and even as Tony watched him, that blue gaze slid to the side and rested on Loki, who was still staring at _Tony_ with broken surprise. It was clear that Thor had not been informed of this decision either… but that he _was_ aware of what had happened between his brother and Tony.

_None_ of them had expected this– it certainly hadn’t been something Tony had known his mother even wanted to try for when they had arrived.

Queen Freyja of Vanaheim had always wanted more for her people, and the iron fist that Odin kept them in line with had always been Freyja’s greatest hate. Tony had never liked it either, and wished that they could somehow gain more independence– but Freyja was too clever to try anything that would incur Odin’s ire. So, she had instead turned to diplomacy.

After centuries of manoeuvring until she was closer to Odin than the leaders of any of the other seven realms, she had finally managed to secure an official discussion regarding Vanaheim’s continuing (and hopefully soon _changing_) status as an Asgardian colonial outpost. She brought Tony along with her, as he was her only child and needed to learn how to do what was best for their realm– or at least, that was what Tony had thought. But after they had arrived, Tony was not included in the discussions at all– although, neither were the Asgardian princes, so he had assumed it was either an Asgardian custom, or done at Odin’s request. Perhaps… he should have realised that it was to ensure that neither Tony nor Thor could protest before it was too late.

Tony wondered whether this had been a contingency of Freyja’s all along, or if it had been an offer that she had accepted. But then, _both_ Odin and Freyja appeared to be too happy with this outcome to be anything other than the pleasant product of long months of discussion, and Tony couldn’t believe that this had been his mother’s original plan.

Yet Freyja had the kind of smile on her face which meant that she was getting exactly what she wanted, but Tony was _sure_ that if she had known about Loki… she wouldn’t have put Tony through this. But as it was, she saw an alliance that would pull Vanaheim out of the mud and toward a brighter future, and it was an opportunity she believed to be too good to pass up.

Of course, this was not the first time such a thing had happened. Queen Frigga was Vanir, but she had not been of the royal family– her father had been a member of King Njörðr’s small council. High born, but not _royal_, and certainly not equal to Odin.

But Tony? He was the heir apparent, the Crown Prince of Vanaheim. If he were to marry the Crown Prince of Asgard, then the pair of them would be equal, and Asgard and Vanaheim would enter a period where they were ruled on _equal_ grounds.

It was as close to independence as they were going to get for now, and… perhaps, down the line, when both he and Thor named heirs, Vanaheim would be able to have its _own_ king who was brother and friend to the King of Asgard, and therefore they would become allied but _separate_ realms. Even Tony had to admit that the plan would have been a perfect one, if Tony had not gone and fallen in love with someone else.

He hadn’t meant to– of course he hadn’t, because how can anyone _mean_ to fall in love? He certainly could not have planned it, because he couldn’t ever have imagined finding someone like Loki among the brutish Asgardians. But fall in love he had, and as he held Loki’s gaze now across the Hall, uncaring of the clamour as the rest of the Asgardians geared up in celebration of the royal wedding that was to happen so very soon…

Tony just began to feel… _angry_.

He’d found something good, for once in his life. He’d found someone that seemed to be able to really _know_ him, someone that maybe he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. But before they’d even had the chance to _think_ about that sort of thing, it had been cruelly torn out from under them.

And in that moment, there was nothing more Tony wanted to do than to get up and _refuse,_ to tell his mother _and_ Odin that they could go to hell, and that Tony was going to marry the prince of Asgard he actually _cared_ about.

He shifted in his seat, his whole body tense as he prepared to get up and protest this insane and immoral decision—

But then Loki shook his head. It was just the slightest of movements, the kind of thing which would go unnoticed by anyone else, but… which was more than enough to make Tony stop in his tracks.

And Loki didn’t even say a word, but they had grown close enough that Tony was able to interpret what he was trying to say from just a single exchange of expression.

_Wait._

And so, Tony stayed in his seat. He tried to follow the proceedings through his haze of anger, just doing his best to learn what he could about what was going to happen to them. But by the time everyone was filing out of the Hall with the happy cheer of upcoming celebrations, all Tony could remember was that he would be married the next morning to his lover’s _brother_.

His mother followed him out, chatting in his ear about how pleased she was, and Tony didn’t even remember how he got away from her. Perhaps he simply left in the middle of the conversation. All that mattered was that some time later, he and Loki were hidden behind locked doors and wards, standing together with their arms around each other’s waists and their haunted gazes locked.

“We’re going to get through this,” Loki promised, sounding far more confident than Tony felt.

“How?” Tony asked, his voice almost broken. “Loki, I’m marrying Thor _tomorrow_. I can’t get out of this, and you– and we– you didn’t even let me fight them.”

“I have a plan,” Loki assured him. “Anthony… do you trust me?”

Tony didn’t need to think about his answer. “Yes,” he said, his voice firm and giving no evidence of doubt in the slightest. “I trust you with my life.”

But that… didn’t seem to be what Loki wanted to hear.

“Then would you trust me with your future?” Loki asked, his voice becoming more earnest. “With your heart?”

“Loki,” Tony whispered hoarsely, cupping Loki’s cheek with one hand as his lips curved into a small smile– and although the moment should have been a happy one, it was tinged with sadness. “I already do.”

It was a confession as good as any, and Tony found himself unsurprised when Loki leaned forward to press their lips together in a kiss. Tony melted into it, his hands curling around Loki’s hips and pulling him close, their mouths sliding together in movements that were both comforting and pleasurable. The kiss felt like a promise, and when they leaned away, they held each other’s gaze for a few moments before the calm silence cracked with a single sentence.

“Then I need you to go through with the ceremony,” Loki said softly– and Tony instantly recoiled.

_“What?”_

“You said that you trusted me,” Loki said, his voice entirely serious. “Are you going back on that?”

“No,” Tony replied, his hands tightening against the back of Loki’s tunic, as if he were clinging tightly for support. And, well, perhaps he _was_. “No, I– I just… Loki, I don’t want to marry Thor.” His voice cracked on that last syllable, and Loki’s expression softened.

“I don’t want you to, either,” he said. “But I _need_ you to. I have a plan, and I _promise_ you that everything will be okay.” Loki held Tony’s eyes, his smile small but the determination in his gaze bright and fierce. “Please, Anthony. You said that you trust me.”

Tony’s breath left him in a heavy sigh at that, and he leaned forward to rest his forehead against Loki’s shoulder, curling into Loki’s arms so that they were as close as they possibly could be.

“All right,” Tony promised, turning his head slightly so that his lips brushed over the bare skin at Loki’s neck. “I _do_ trust you, and I’ll do it.”

Loki relaxed at that, and he tilted down his head to press a kiss to Tony’s hair.

“Everything will be fine,” Loki whispered, his hands moving in soothing strokes over Tony’s back. “You’ll see. Everything will be _fine.”_

—|x|—

Everything felt wrong.

A wedding was supposed to be a happy occasion. It was supposed to be the day that two people professed their love for one another in the most binding way possible, the day that they embraced their happy future and prepared to embark on a journey with the one they cared about most in all the Nine.

This felt like… the exact opposite of that.

Tony didn’t love Thor– he didn’t even really _know_ Thor. The older prince had been a little too roguish and focused on fighting for Tony’s taste, and he had hardly spent any time with the guy at all. In fact, almost every moment that Tony had spent on Asgard… he had been spending with Loki.

It had been so easy to fall in love with Loki. They had bonded first over their common sense of humour, since Tony had laughed at Loki’s pranks and then helped him come up with ideas for new ones, and within minutes of their first conversation Tony already had this feeling like Loki was going to be the best kind of friend. From there they had found common ground in their enjoyment of creation, albeit in different areas– Tony liked to mould metal and technology to his will, whereas Loki preferred to create wonders with his seiðr. But Tony found Loki’s seiðr fascinating, and he _loved_ watching Loki work– and Loki loved watching Tony. They were able to work side-by-side, and even managed to create things _together_, Tony’s skill with metal and Loki’s seiðr melding seamlessly to create armour of the like that no one had ever seen. And they had just… they had fit together in a way that Tony never had with anyone else, and it hadn’t taken him long at all to recognise that his feelings for Loki went far deeper than friendship.

There had been no awkward confessions, no moments of doubt. The bond between them had simply grown, and one morning, while they had been sitting together in the gardens with their arms around each other and their heads tilted close, Loki had simply leaned down and Tony had leaned up– and they had kissed each other with their lips still curved into smiles.

There was no trigger for it, save that it was something that they had both wanted, and that it had felt _right_. And from that moment, it was like everything just fell into place.

It really was _easy _between them, the easiest thing in the world.

At least, it had been, until that announcement in the Hall had sent every happy moment shattering into a thousand pieces.

And now… Tony had to marry Loki’s brother, and he and Loki would have to be cruelly close and yet agonisingly held apart for the rest of their lives.

Even though Loki had said he had a plan, Tony couldn’t help the way that dread pooled in his stomach and began to make him feel sick.

The clothes he had been provided by the servants felt wrong on his body. They were Asgardian, all too heavy and close-fitting compared to what he usually wore at home. But the worst was the golden cape that was the colour of his mother’s House, which he knew would soon be replaced by a cape of _red– _when his husband-to-be cloaked him in his own colours to symbolise the merging of their families. It weighed him down as his mother walked him into the Hall. She, at least, looked stunning– with a dress of pure gold and a circlet of gilded leaves sitting upon her head. Her smile was radiant, and Tony wished that he was as happy about this match as she was. Wished that he could tell her the truth without risking everything that they had both fought for– as well as whatever Loki was up to.

Loki, who did not even appear to be in the room. Tony supposed it made sense, even though his heart fell. He wouldn’t have wanted to watch Loki marry someone else, either.

Frigga stood by the altar– as queen of Asgard, she was the overseer of all Asgardian marriages. Tony tried to tell himself that meant it did not matter, because married on Asgard did not mean that he would be married back home, and maybe he would still be able to run away—

But he knew that was not an option. Odin was the most powerful person in all the Nine, and he would not stand by while his son was spurned. If Tony went through with this, then he would be locked in forever.

He could still _object_ to this, because not even the Asgardians would marry a person who did not wish to be so. It would, of course, anger the Allfather, as well as his mother, and possibly put their negotiations at risk– but Tony thought that it would still be worth it. Except… for the fact that Tony had not promised Loki that he would go through with it.

No matter how shitty he felt, and no matter how much he hated what was happening, Tony knew that the last thing he wanted to do would be to break a promise to Loki. So, he pulled himself together, held on to all of his emotions, and walked with his mother to meet Thor at the altar.

Thor watched Tony approach with an odd kind of expression on his face, as if he were concerned. But then, Tony supposed that more than made sense. Thor, after all, didn’t want to be there either.

Tony’s gaze instinctively flickered over Thor’s shoulder, even though he had already seen that Loki was not there. It seemed that Thor had chosen Sif as his support, and she levelled Tony with the kind of steely stare that had him immediately looking away again.

The Hall fell silent as Frigga raised her hands, and then she began the ceremony.

Tony hardly heard it. He felt like he was floating, like maybe he would wake up from this nightmare at any moment. His heart was in his throat, his stomach felt like it was somewhere around his knees, and the world was swimming before his eyes. Thor’s hands on his were remarkably grounding though, and it was enough that he _did_ note that his and Thor’s names were not said _once_. He marked that as a little odd but then, he had not been to an Asgardian wedding before. Perhaps this was ordinary. They had seemed a bit uptight about names since he had arrived, refusing to shorten them out of respect– calling him _Anthony_ instead of Tony. Admittedly, it _had_ grown on him when Loki did it, because those longer syllables spoken in Loki’s voice with that kind of loving reverence that made Tony feel warm all the way through…

The kind of loving reverence that Tony wouldn’t be able to have again, if this wedding was completed.

He was jerked out of the haze when Frigga began wrapping a silken cord around their clasped right hands, and then she told them that it was time to cloak each other in their colours.

What followed was a little bit of struggle, as they tried to take their cloaks off one handed. Thor managed better than Tony did – which was a little surprising, since Tony might not be the most graceful of people but Thor was usually worse – and then they moved to throw their cloaks over the other’s shoulders.

Tony went first, flicking the gold material of the Vanir royal family over Thor’s shoulders, and then it was Thor’s turn. His cloak was, of course, a bright crimson red, and Tony had to hold back a wince as it flicked around him because it wasn’t _right—_

But then, as the cloak twisted through the air and came to settle on Tony’s shoulders… the red bled away, and the cape instead turned a deep and familiar shade of green.

Tony’s eyes widened, and with a sudden burst of _certainty_ he lifted his gaze to meet that of the man he was about to marry.

“Loki?” he whispered.

“Hello, Anthony,” Loki replied, smiling as the illusion of Thor’s visage melted back into his own. “I hope that this something that you can accept?”

Tony was aware of the mutterings in the crowd. He could _hear_ his mother’s gasp, as well as Odin calling to know _what_ was going on—

But he also knew that there was nothing any of them could do about it.

Tony’s hand was already tied to Loki’s– they were already in the midst of their binding. To separate them now would be completely reprehensible, and regardless…

A flicker caught Tony’s eye, and although he didn’t look away from Loki entirely, he did notice as Sif’s shape shimmered green until Thor was standing in her place, clearly acting as his brother’s best man. It couldn’t be more obvious that he _supported_ this decision—

As did Frigga, who was watching them both with a smile, waiting for Tony to give his answer– just as Loki was.

And really, in that moment, there was only one thing for Tony to do.

“Loki,” he started. “Of course this is something that I want. These past months with you have been the best of my life, and there isn’t anything I can think of that I want more than to marry you. So I… I promise that I will stand by your side, no matter what happens, or who tries to come between us. Whether we’re sick or healthy, whether we’re royalty or– or if we get disowned for this—”

Loki squeezed Tony’s hand at that, and Tony held his gaze with a firm smile.

“_Whatever_ happens… I love you, so very much,” he continued, feeling tears begin to prick at his eyes. “And spending the rest of my life with you is the greatest gift that I could ever receive. But, you know… you _could_ have told me what you were planning.”

“Anthony,” Loki replied, his voice more than a little watery as well. “I love you too, but… you are a _terrible_ actor.”

Thor snorted at that, but Tony took no notice of him– merely letting out a chuckle of his own and shaking his head in disbelief.

“I mean it,” Loki continued earnestly. “As you walked down the aisle, you looked like you were on your way to the gallows. Had you known it was me waiting for you at the altar, you would have looked more excited, and the game would have been up.”

“You’re thinking highly of yourself,” Tony said, unable to stop his grin—

“You did just profess your love to me,” Loki reminded him. “Now shush, it’s my turn.” Tony’s smile widened, but he remained silent. And when it was clear he was not about to speak again, Loki continued. “Anthony, there is no one in the Nine that has ever made me feel like I do when I’m with you. It is not only that I love you, which I do very much– it’s that you make me want to be the best I can be, and make me _feel_ like I can achieve anything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you because you make me happy, and because I want nothing more than to make you happy, too.”

“Loki,” Tony whispered. “You already do.”

Loki smiled softly. “I love you, Anthony,” he said. “I always will.”

Tony’s hand was shaking, or perhaps Loki’s was. Frigga was smiling, and down in the audience Tony could see his mother with her hand over her mouth, her eyes gleaming with tears of almost grief which had been turned to joy.

“Just as your hands are bound together, so too are your lives,” Frigga said– and Tony thought she might have been doing something, though he was so caught up in Loki’s gaze that he couldn’t have said what. “Now go forth as husbands, bound by both law and heart.”

Those watching, it seemed, had managed to overcome their surprise, for they broke out into applause. But that didn’t mean that everything was fixed. Tony could only hope that marrying _Loki_ was enough to make the deal as sweet as it would have been if he had married Thor, because if it weren’t, then he had just angered his mother _and_ Odin, and ruined his realm’s chance to take a step closer to independence. Though, with Frigga on his side and Freyja’s current happy tears, along with Thor’s bright smile… Tony couldn’t think that relations between Asgard and Vanaheim would remain anything but friendly.

And in that moment, as their lips pressed together and their marriage was made official, Tony’s mind was about as far from diplomacy as he could get. After all, he was marrying Loki not because he had been told to, but because he _wanted_ to.

He and Loki loved each other, and so long as that fact remained true, then Tony knew that they would be able to face the rest.


End file.
